Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

For almost 120 years now the Loeb family has owned and operated businesses in Memphis. Although the name stays the same the businesses have changed dramatically.

In 1887 Henry Loeb Sr. was in business making and selling both hats and shirts. Ladies taking delivery of the shirts often suggested that he launder the shirts as well as selling them. The market for shirt laundering was considerable and Henry Sr. found his business growing. By 1910 he was expanding his business into a 3 story cleaning plant on Madison Avenue. As this was two full blocks east of Main Street, Loeb's horse-drawn delivery service was welcomed by the community.

The original Peabody Hotel built in 1869. Home of the Peabody Marching Ducks since 1932. There are now several locations which feature the ducks and their Duckmaster.

The Duckmaster resembles a circus ringmaster with top hat, tails and a cane or baton who leads the troupe (flock?) from the elevators to the Grand Fountain in the lobby to the accompaniment of a Sousa march playing on the lobby speakers.

Each morning at 11 they march in then spend the rest of the day in the fountain. They never wander away or shy away from tourists who gather to take photos with them. At 5:00 PM the show reverses and they march out to return to their rooftop garden quarters where they live a life of luxury.

You can Google search to find many videos of them. They have also appeared on several TV shows through the years.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.